Dance of Death

Some thrillers aim for verisimilitude - the plot and story details reflect the real world to a degree that almost tips the book into reportage. Preston & Child have chosen a different path. Within an exciting and twisting plot they have included a set of characters that would not be out of place in a Daffy Duck cartoon. Everyone seems to be an off-the-wall out-and-out eccentric with special skills that rival anything seen in a Marvel comic.

Agent Pendergast is a multi-millionaire FBI investigator with such an uncanny skill in disguise that he is forever being ignored by his closest associates. Along with his encyclopaedic knowledge of, well, everything, this makes him the ultimate human weapon for good or ill, but he remains a humdrum show more Fed. A series of murders of people he knows leads Pendergast to the conclusion that his younger (and, apparently, smarter) brother, Diogenes, is out to get him. Working outside the law Pendergast and his police lieutenant sidekick Vincent attempt to stop Diogenes' killing spree while avoiding undue police and FBI attention.

Pendergast is too clever and knowing to be under any real threat. Too many times we learn that some horrible event has been thwarted or is not as it seems because he 'thought something like this might happen' and has replaced all the bullets in New York with marshmallow or some such. Vincent plods along in a stupefied rage helping to pick up the pieces and jump to all the wrong conclusions to help obfuscate the story. I think the authors realise the omniscience they have given to Pendergast and for much of the book he is sidelined and we are moved along by various sidebar characters of varying levels of goodie/baddie and stupid/clever.

The first half of the book is too slow and too fragmented to suck the reader in. The last third of the book is properly exciting with some real hints of jeopardy, although the denouement is a bit weak and clearly intended to set up the next book in the series.

I can see why this book and the others in the series are popular and I did enjoy reading it. I just think it could have been so much better. show less

I have been a fan of Agent Pendergast ever since I read the first novel in this series in 1995 when it was first published. At the time, I remember I enjoyed Relic because Pendergast was awesomely different and the story thrillingly gruesome. Then life got extraordinarily busy for me....kids, a divorce, years as a single mom, remarriage, etc etc....you know...hard-core adulting....and I lost track of this series for a long time. Fast forward about 10 years....only one child left at home....and more time on my hands....I re-discovered my love of books a couple years ago. And I fondly remembered Pendergast. There are lot more books in the series now, so I'm enjoying catching up with what Preston & Childs have been up to since I've been show more away. :)

My library offers most of the series on audiobook through OverDrive, so I listen off and on during the day. Pendergast solves some of his most thrilling cases while I'm driving the car, washing dishes or folding laundry. :)

Dance of Death was an enjoyable listen! Agent Pendergast's insane brother Diogenes is seeking violent revenge against his sibling. Diogenes is systematically murdering everyone that Pendergast cares about. One at a time. In gruesome ways. He wants his brother to suffer. Pendergast knows that the killings aren't Diogenes main focus though. The deaths are just a smoke screen to keep Pendergast busy while Diogenes pulls off a crime he's been planning for more than 20 years. Can Pendergast save the people he loves the most....and still prevent Diogenes from succeeding with his criminal plans?

The story was a bit melodramatic in places....and the criminally insane mastermind is a plot trope of long standing. But, I still found this story exciting, interesting and suspenseful. I was, however, incredibly disappointed to discover that this audiobook version is heavily abridged. At 6.5 hours, it is about 10 hours shorter than an unabridged version I looked up online. How can you glean 10 hours of narration time out of a Pendergast book and not have a tremendous effect on the story? I did enjoy this audio book.....but now I seriously wonder how much (and what) I missed by listening to an abridged version. Rene Auberjonois is an outstanding narrator. He gives Pendergast just the right tone and accent, in my opinion. His reading pace and tone is even and easy to understand. I have partial hearing loss and have no problem understanding Auberjoinois. The only thing that I didn't like about this version is the huge amount of story that must have been removed to whittle it down to 6.5 hours. (The fact that the company is called Hatchette Audio - and they axed out half of the book -- made me laugh) I am listening to another book in this series by the same company -- also abridged -- and then I'm going to go back to reading the novels rather than audio versions (unless unabridged). I want the full Pendergast.....not the axed version.

I would give the Pendergast story a strong 4 star rating on its own merits. But I'm dipping my ranking down to 3 stars on this one....just because 10 hours missing from a story is a lot of missing narrative. Boo Hiss! (in honor of the slightly melodramatic storyline in this book).

Dance of Death is book 8 in the Agent Pendergast series. It's the middle book in the trilogy within the series that centers around Diogenes. There are 16 books in the Pendergast series currently, with the 17th, City of Endless Night, coming out in January 2018. For more info on Preston & Childs, check out their author website here: https://www.prestonchild.com/ I'm going to listen to the last Diogenes book in abridged form since I've already started the audiobook.....but then going back to reading the novels for the rest of the series. show less

This has to be the most convoluted book in the series so far. While interesting, it is riddled with convenience fairies and too much obfuscation. Pendergast is more an enigma by force than by consequence. He suffers from Man Behind the Curtain syndrome. Hopefully the next book won't be this obnoxious.

Este libro ha resultado ser, desde mi punto de vista, el mejor de la serie de Pendergast hasta el momento. La cosa es, que cada libro ha resultado mejor que el anterior.

Este libro forma parte de la serie de Pendergast, pero además es el segundo de una trilogía y aunque en el primer libro sabemos un poco de Diógenes, no es sino hasta esta entrega que realmente vemos la cara de uno de los asesinos más fríos, inteligentes, malévolos y terroríficos, bueno es que la personalidad del tipo raya en los malos de los cómics, es algo así como el "el pingüino" mezclado con "dos caras" y con algo de "El joker" y de "Enigma" y de todos esos malos, malísimos de la serie de Batman, creo que incluso todo este libro bien podría ser una novela show more de thriller inspirada en un comic.

Como todos los libros de Preston y Child, definitivamente no da tregua, te mantiene absolutamente pegado al asiento y esperando la siguiente página para la siguiente gran aventura de Pendergast, el siguiente terrible asesinato y la nueva buena jugada de Diógenes.

No voy a mentir y definitivamente este libro es absolutamente peliculero, pero me divierte, me entretiene y me tiene pegada con la nariz en cada libro desde que abro la primera página, ¡son tan entretenidos! y este que nos ocupa, particularmente, da un giro espectacular tanto a la serie como a la trilogía.

Y ¿cómo no? estos autores nos dejan con la miel en la boca para correr por el siguiente libro y conocer el desenlace, ya me lo habían hecho en libro anterior y este no se ha quedado atrás, terminas con un ¡¡NOOOOO!!! ¡¡NO ME PUEDEN DEJAR ASI!

Definitivamente mucho más que entretenido y al ser parte de una trilogía esta puede leerse perfectamente fuera de la serie, sin embargo, tiene toda la continuación de los personajes que hemos venido conociendo desde el primer libro y por lo tanto conocemos el alcance del daño que se hace al conocer la relación de Pendergast con cada uno de los personajes.

Pendergast como personaje es genial, mientras que los primeros libros de la serie siempre resultaba en una figura de segundo plano, en los últimos tres libros aparece ya como el absoluto protagonista y mientras más sé de él, de su personalidad, de su vida y de su peculiar familia, me va gustando cada vez más.

Sin duda una serie que vale mucho la pena leerse. show less

I truly like works by author duo Preston & Child and one of their better series is series of novels about the agent Pendergast. They are always fast reads, chapters not too long and constant succession of points of view or protagonists and antagonists, story flows smoothly.

But this one was a difficult read for me. I admit several other books ran the interference but it is rare for me to read a single book over almost two months.


So..... good aspects are that story s fast paced as ever with lots of twists and turns, Pendergast is his eccentric self, his allies are equally lost, amused and outright angry with him and main antagonist, Pendergast's brother Diogenes is for all means and purposes Pendergast's mirror image on the Dark side. So show more all standard ingredients are in.

Now, I wont say bad but [at least for me] story impeding parts ...... First is all the controversy and ruckus about the native ceremony masks - lots of space went to this (in my opinion almost quarter of the book) and nothing. It looks like authors wanted to do something with this but changed their mind mid-flight. This part of story could easily be removed (or kept at minimum) and it would result in leaner and more interesting read. Second is how easily everyone is sure Pendergast is behind the criminal activity and how easily they mark him a psychiatric case. I mean this i snot introductory novel, they all worked with the man but they turn 180 degrees on him on a first case of doubt without even stopping to think. This is something that is familiar to everyone reading about extraordinary protagonist and even superheroes - and is truly idiotic for me. But OK it is here because we need a threat but at least make it outside the known characters.

And finally greatest huh! moment - main target for Diogenes. This left me saying what! and needing a 10 minute break. After all actions, plots, kills, it all comes to petty theft? I mean come on!

I agree that all of the above are related to that aspect that hits me oh so often - this is second book in Diogenes series (I need still to get first and third) and all of the above comments fall into that filler category that is usually characteristic of the middle book in any series. But man that was too much filler.

Ending was quite interesting and I have to say I cannot wait for the third book.



Interesting story, but due to all the failings that usually go with mid-series novels not exactly the best in Pendergast series. show less

More like a 3.5, probably my second favorite book of the series after Cabinet of Curiosities. Diogenes is an interesting character, too bad he's about as secretive as Pendergast himself. I think I also figured out another problem I have with this series that really presented itself to me in this book. I guess it might be the problem of author collaboration. I don't know how they could put so much feeling and emotion into the D'Agosta Hayward break up, and then be so drab and boring, even to the point that I started skimming, during Diogenes's ride home after stealing the diamonds. I dunno, even for all I complain, I still think these books are better than average, they will seemingly just never reach five star status for me.

When we last left FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, he had been entombed in the fashion of Poe's "Cask of Amontillado," behind a brick wall of Castel Fosco. Near death, he is rescued by his seriously disturbed, estranged brother, Diogenes, who needs his brother alive because Pendergast is integral to a plot he has planned. Once Aloysius returns from the dead, people dear to Aloysius begins to be murdered in varying fashions, the meaning of each known only to Pendergast. Aided by NYC police detective Vincent D'Agosta, Pendergast begins a cat-and-mouse search for Diogenes before another death occurs. But which one of the brothers is the cat and which one is the mouse?

This novel is the middle novel of a triptych known as the Diogenes show more trilogy, which is nestled within the Pendergast series. The trilogy includes the preceding Brimstone and ends with The Book of the Dead. It is rare that I give a five-star rating to thriller-suspense novel within a series, but I believe that this one deserves such as a rating. First, Pendergast's deductive reasoning is equally matched by his psychologically-flawed brother, who always seems one step ahead of his attempt to stop him. Tension builds to a high pitch as Pendergast and D'Agosta try to avoid the police (explanation would be a spoiler) as they try to catch Diogenes. I enjoyed the Holmes-Watson comparison between Pendergast and D'Agosta as they search for clues regarding who will die next. Finally, I enjoyed the side stories of the other major characters as Pendergast tries to protect them or they become entangled in the web that Diogenes weaves to ensnare them. Of course, there is also that "I didn't see that coming" moment which when combined with the other novel attributes, make this novel stand out from the others I have read thus far. One could omit reading the first in the trilogy since Diogenes plays a minimal role in it, but I would not read Dance of Death without reading the following novel since this one ends in a cliff-hanger. Although I don't generally read two in one series back-to-back, I have to make an exception in this case. Now back to the book! show less